Sherwell Valley Olympic Activity Week

London 2012 promised to ‘inspire a generation’ Why are we doing it? What are we doing at Sherwell Valley for the Olympics?

Celebrating the Olympics at Sherwell Valley We decided to hold an off-curriculum week centred around sport. We wanted the children to experience as many different sports and activities as possible, especially those that they would not necessarily have the opportunity to do. These sports would involve a variety of centres around the local area with specialised coaches and leaders where possible to teach children the key skills.

Coaches and Sports leaders

A range of sports and venues! Sherwell Valley Netball – Mrs Deacon Gymnastics – Mrs Taylor Boccia – Mrs Vallance Archery – Miss Atkey TAG Rugby – Mr Lockyer Dance – Miss Holgate Athletics – Mrs Gayward and Miss Crimp Orienteering – Mrs Mildoon Golf – Mr Brown Rowing – Mrs Channon Table Tennis – Mrs Jenkins Rounders – Mrs Steer Decoy Kayaking – Mrs Johnson/ Mrs Keeney Torquay Community College Football – Mr Stephens/ Mr Bradbury Cricket – Mrs Bonshor Torquay Tennis Centre Hockey – Mrs Griggs Tennis – Mrs Hodgeson Volleyball – Mr Taylor Handball – Mr Handsley Clennon Valley Fencing – Miss Rousell Boxing – Mrs Clague Judo – Miss Welsh Squash – Miss McMullan

Organisation ! The children throughout the school – all 650 of them! – were put into teams, with children from every year group being mixed. ( This took a team of 7 teachers most of their Spring Half-term holiday!) Each team was then given a country that they were to represent throughout the week. On the Friday, the children spent the morning learning about this country, their traditions, customs and language, as well as singing songs, tasting foods and making flags and banners.

The Countries FRANCE – Miss Crimp UKRAINE – Mrs Radford/Mrs Channon CZECH REPUBLIC – Mr Handsley GERMANY – Mrs Gaywood NETHERLANDS – Mrs Johnson ITALY – Mr Brown HUNGARY – Mrs Hodgson SPAIN – Mrs Jenkins CANADA – Miss Welsh ETHIOPIA – Mrs Steer NORWAY – Miss McMullan BULGARIA – Miss Holgate RUSSIA – Mrs Vallance BELARUS – Mr Bradbury/ Mr Stephens UNITED STATES – Mrs Taylor/Mrs Bunn JAMAICA – Mrs Clague BRAZIL – Mrs Griggs CHINA – Mrs Deacon/ Miss Stratford AUSTRALIA – Mr Lockyer ROMANIA – Miss Rousell KENYA – Mrs Bonshor POLAND – Mr Taylor JAPAN – Mrs Mildoon GREAT BRITAIN – Miss Atkey

The Opening Ceremony To complete the week, the parents were invited to come and watch the children in an ‘Opening Ceremony’. The children paraded around the school field in their ‘country’, waving flags and showing their country’s banner. They then took part in relay races and sang songs together to the parents. We were even joined by an actual Olympic Torch Bearer!

Inspire a Generation? The week was a huge success, the children not only experienced at least 8 different sports, including many that they hadn’t previously tried, but they also learnt a great deal about working together, co-operation, patience, perseverance, confidence and respect. For weeks, the school received hundreds of positive comments, from both children and parents about the effect it had had on them. Following this, the children and staff were extremely enthusiastic about The Olympics, and many went to see for themselves, the spectacle that was… London 2012!

Sherwell Valley 2012

And, of course, Marto joined in too!